A balloon leaves Moscow and moves, in this order:
500 miles north; 500 miles east; 500 miles south; 500 west.
At what distance does he land from Moscow?
2007-02-06 05:54:41 · 12 answers · asked by Catch 22 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
Two details: zero wind; I guarantee the answer is not zero.
2007-02-06 06:02:50 · update #1
Lands a bit to the east of Moscow. Too lazy to calculate how much. Got to consider the curvature of the earth, need the latitud of Moscow too.
2007-02-06 06:00:47 · answer #1 · answered by krumenager 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Taking the circumference of the Earth as 24,900 miles :-
Moscow is at latitude 55 deg 45 min, and to go 500 miles north of Moscow takes the balloon to latitude 63 deg.
For the balloon to get back to Moscow, its 500 miles east at 63 deg would need to be compensated by 500 * cos (55.75) / cos (63) = 620 miles west at the lower latitude, so by only doing 500, it lands 120 miles short (to the nearest mile, anyway).
2007-02-06 14:54:47 · answer #2 · answered by bh8153 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A bit east of his starting point. That's because the distance travelled in the east direction was along a parallel that is further north, i.e. it has a shorter radius and therefore the 500 miles cover a greater angular distance, than the 500 miles in the western direction.
If you look at the earth from above the north pole, you'll see what I mean.
2007-02-06 14:04:26 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Far.
I'm quite certain that 500 miles north of Moscow would be past the north pole.
And assuming it isn't, it still would not land back in moscow due to the shape of the earth. It is not spherical and those distances are on skewed axis'
He would land a bit east of moscow
2007-02-06 14:02:00 · answer #4 · answered by Michael Dino C 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Since the world is not flat, when the balloon goes north the 500 miles east traverses more of the portion around the world than when it returns to a lower latitude and goes west. It doesn't quite reach the starting point, so it still is a bit east of the origin.
2007-02-06 14:05:30 · answer #5 · answered by Daniel Quilp 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Assuming you travel in such a way that the curvature of the earth doesn't matter, the rotaion of the earth would cause you to land west of Moscow by a distance determined by how long your trip was.
2007-02-06 14:37:46 · answer #6 · answered by Tony O 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Aprox. 100 mi. east from Moscow.
2007-02-06 14:22:54 · answer #7 · answered by gquiroz2005 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
He lands bang in Moscow, as 500 up, 500 right, 500 down, 500 left => you are back to your own place.
2007-02-06 14:00:20 · answer #8 · answered by Nitin Jagga 1 · 0⤊ 5⤋
He's traversed a perfect square.
He lands in Moscow, or has moved a total of 0 miles from his starting location.
2007-02-06 14:00:22 · answer #9 · answered by Christina 6 · 0⤊ 5⤋
he lands back in moscow
2007-02-06 14:01:47 · answer #10 · answered by soccergrl4103 3 · 0⤊ 4⤋